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Fight over name of road isn't over By
William Cole
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Leading up to a state Senate committee hearing on April 15, there were lots of impassioned feelings over a proposal to ditch the name Fort Barrette Road in Kapolei and rename the roadway Kualaka'i Road.
Some veterans' groups very much want to keep the name of the roadway in honor of Brig. Gen. John D. Barrette, whose name also applies to the nearby but long-ago shuttered Fort Barrette.
The coastal defense fort, outfitted with 16-inch guns that could hurl a shell 25 miles, was named for Barrette in 1934.
Some Hawaiian groups, meanwhile, very much want to change the name of Fort Barrette Road to Kualaka'i Road in honor of the important trail and place (now Nimitz Beach) that preceded Fort Barrette in ancient Hawaiian history.
Turns out, however, that a Kualaka'i Street already exists, not far from Fort Barrette Road.
Does that end the matter? No, and what will happen next is far from clear.
A concurrent resolution to change the name of Fort Barrette Road passed in the House. The measure was deferred in a Senate committee with the recommendation that the state Department of Hawaiian Homelands and Office of Veterans Services jointly resolve the matter.
The state Department of Transportation said it would change the name with the Legislature's passage of a resolution, and if the community supported it.
The fact that there already is a Kualaka'i Street (between Kapolei High School and Kapolei Middle School) does not rule out the possibility of a separate Kualaka'i Road, according to the DOT.
DOT spokeswoman Tammy Mori said, "Our position would remain the same." One Kualaka'i could be differentiated from another by street, boulevard, way, road, etc., Mori said.
The Department of Hawaiian Homelands did not respond to requests for comment.
Mark Moses, director of the Office of Veterans Services, which previously opposed a name change, said "the fact that a Kualaka'i Street exists directly between 'Ewa and Kapolei in the area where kupuna say the trail existed serves as commemoration of the trail."
State Rep. Kymberly Pine, R-43rd ('Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Pu'uloa), said she plans to introduce a resolution in the next legislative session calling for the North-South road to be renamed Kualaka'i Road. Pine had opposed changing Fort Barrette Road's name.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.
